Body-pivot golf putter



June 8, 1965 "R. T. PARMLEY 3,188,036

BODY-PIVOT GOLF PUTTER Filed 0 18. 1961 1!I/llIlIllIIl/ qzlllllil IlaIIII/IIIIIllIIl/Iih/IIIIIIJ INVENTOR. RICHARD T. PARMLEY ATTORNEYSUnited States Patent 3,188,086 BUDY-FEVGT GOLF PUTTER Richard T.larmiey, 2711 Cowley Way, San Diego 10,, Calif.

Filed Oct. 18, 1951, Ser. No. 145,793 9 Claims. (Cl. 273-813) Thisinvention relates to golf clubs and particularly to putters. It involvesa new concept of putting and structure for carrying out such concept.

Conventional putters require golfers to swing without support other thanthat afforded by the shoulders. Great skill is required to achieve thedesired objective of sinking the ball in the cup.

It was a principal object of this invention to significantly reduce thedifficulty of putting accurately, without eliminating skill as a factorin the game.

Another object Was to accomplish the foregoing without any radicaldeparture from conventional club configuration, so as to gain promptacceptance by golfers generally and arouse no official disapproval.

These objects have been attained by providing for pivoting the upper endof the club against the abdomen of the golfer during the swing. From astructural standpoint, this involves making the shaft of the club forany given golfer longer than it would be if such club were ofconventional size, While leaving the hand grip in its usual placerelative to the ball-striking head of the club.

Conventional golf putters, including those custom built, range in lengthfrom 33 to 37 inches, depending upon the sex and height of the golfer.The shortest clubs are ordinarily provided for women. Evenextraordinarily tall men and women seldom use a putter longer than 36inches. The hand grips of conventional putters extend down the shaft ofthe club from the upper end of the club a distance ranging from about 12to 13 inches, depending upon the overall length of the club. Ordinarily,the hands of a golfer will extend over only about 8 inches of griplength.

In contrast, clubs confroming to this invention will extend upwardlyfrom at least 15 to about 23 inches from the lower end of the hand grip,which is conventionally located with respect to the club head, and thetotal length of the club will range upwardly from a length almost, atleast, as great as that of any conventional putter, depending upon thegolfers height. In this way, the upper end of the club will be adaptedto rest firmly against the golfers abdomen and to pivot thereagainstduring the stroke. For this purpose, a frictional pivot member isadvantageously provided at the upper end of the shaft.

Various special forms of golf putter clubs have been proposedheretofore, for example those shown in Taylor US. Patent No. 792,631 andSchmidt US. Patent No.

2,843,384. These, however, differ radically from the conventional cluband do not offer the functional advantages of this invention. Both areforward-swing clubs,

in contrast to conventional lateral-swing clubs.

' purposes of comparison;

Patented June -8, 1965 ice FIG. 5, a top plan view of the upper end ofthe club, the view being taken with respect to FIG. 3 but drawn to alarger scale;

FIG. 6, a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 66 of FIG. 5;and

FIG. 7, a side elevation of a golfer about to execute a putt with a clubconstituting a somewhat different embodiment of the invention, thegolfer lbeing shown only fragmentarily and no attempt being made toaccurately show the exact pivotal relationship of the club with thegolfer, an arrow being appended to indicate how the upper portion of theshaft is bent out of line with the lower portion.

Referring to the drawings:

The golf putter shown in FIGS. 1-6 is of lateralswing type and includesa putter head 10, which may be of any suitable side-hitting formation, asingle shaft 11 extending upwardly therefrom in what is essentiallyconventional manner, a hand grip 12, and a frictional pivot member 13.Not conventional is the fact that the shaft is of such extended lengthas to, together with member 13, each the abdomen of a golfer using theclub, although the hand grip 12 remains in the location usual for theclub with shaft not extended. As illustrated, such hand grip is ofconventional length, but the total length of the club is considerablylonger than is conventional. In no instance is the total length of theclub less than almost that of a conventional golf putter club.

By comparing the club of the invention, as shown in FIG. 3, with aconventional golf putter club for the same golfer,-as shown in FIG. 4,the significance of the dimensional differences and the new relationshipof the component parts becomes apparent. Thus, the upper end portion ofthe shaft, together with the frictional member 13, of the club of FIG. 3extends from at least two to about ten inches above the uppertermination of the hand grip 15 of the conventional golf putter club ofFIG. 4, and, whether left unwrapped, as shown, or wrapped by an upwardcontinuation of the hand grip 12, the upper termination of the club isadapted to seat against and pivot on the abdomen of the golfer duringplay, see FIG. 2.

Frictional pivot member 13 serves to maintain a stable pivot for theclub against the abdomen of the golfer during a swing. In theillustrated embodiment, this member 13 is an elongate cap of flexibleand resilient cushioning material, such as sponge rubber, tightlyaffixed to the upper end of shaft 11, as by means of an adhesive, withits elongate dimension extending substantially parallel with the clubhead. Accordingly, there will be a cushioning as well as a pivot actionof the upper end of the club against the body of the golfer duringexecution of a stroke. Other frictional materials may, of course, beemployed for the pivot member and such member may be attached to theupper end of the shaft of the club in various ways.

In order to provide a satisfactory bearing surface for the pivot member13, it is preferred that its top 13a be fiat, and in order to guide thestrokes along proper paths rather than to cause deviation, it isadvantageous that its lateral sides 13b be flat and intersect the flattop 13a at respective acute angles and along lateral edges that aremutually parallel and substantially in alignment with the putter head.Even when the pivot member is made of some excellent frictionalmaterial, such as sponge rubber, it is preferred to provide ananti-slip, tread-like design 14 on the flat top, as indicated in FIG. 5.

The club is held and swung in essentially conventional manner, dueregard being given, however, to the pivot bearing of the upper end ofthe club against the abdomen of the golfer. Thus, while grip and swingare customary,

3 attention is'paid to"'pivotin'gthe club against the abdomen, see FIG.2, to both steady and guide the stroke.

A somewhat different embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG.7, wherein the golf putter club 20 isv similar'tothe club of theforegoing figures in every respect exceptfor the' fact that the"extended length, upper end portion 21a of the shaft 21 iscantedforwardl'y at aslight ang'le to the handle grip 22 and tothe'lower portion of the shaft, instead of'being a'rectilinearcontinuation thereof.

Whereas there arehere specifically illustrated and described certainpreferred '-constructions which arepresently-rega'rded-as the best modesof carrying out the invention, it should be understood-that various"changes may be made without departing from the inventive conceptsparticularly pointed out and distinctly claimed herebelow.

I claim: I

'1. A lateral-swing-golfputter club, comprisinga putter head ofside-hitting type; a single club shaft extending upwardly fromsecurer'nent to said head;-a handle grip onsaid shaft; andan'additionaI,elongate, shaft extension extending beyond the uppermost portion of thehandle grip sufficiently to place the upper endof the club shaft againstthe abdomen of the player during the execution ofa putting stroke.

2. A lateral-swing golf putter club, comprising a putter head ofside-hitting typeya single club shaft extending upwardly from securementto said head; a handle grip on said shaft; an additionaLelongate, shaftextension extending beyond the uppermost portion of the handle gripsufficiently to place the upper end of the club shaft against theabdomen of the player during the execution of the putting stroke; and africtional pivot member at the upper endof said shaft extension.

3. A lateral-swing golf putter club, comprising a putter head ofside-hitting type; a single club shaft extending upwardly fromsecurement to-said head; a handle grip on said shaft; an additional,elongate, shaft extension sufficient to place the upper end of the clubshaft against the abdomen of the player during the execution of aputting stroke; and a frictional pivot member at the upper end of saidshaft extension, said pivot member being elongate longitudinally of theclub head, with its upper lateral edges mutually parallel andsubstantially in alignment with the putter head, and having asubstantially flat top and substantially flat sides laterally thereof asstroke-guiding means.

4. The golf putter club of claim 3, wherein the flat sides of the pivotmember intersect the flat top thereof at acute angles, respectively. I

5. The golfputterclubof clai'rrr'Z, wherein the'pivot member-is 'ofaflexible and resilient cushioning material.

6. The golf putter club of 'claim'S, wherein' the material is spongerubber.

7, The'golf put'ter 'clubof claim 5, wherein the top of'the'pivot'memberhas an anti-slip, tread-like design formed therein.

8. The golf putter club of claim 1, wherein the shaft extension is arectilinear continuation of the club shaft.

9. The golf putter club of claiml, wherein the putter head extends inone direction farther than in the 0pposite direction and the shaftextension is canted in the said one direction at such an angle to theclub shaft as is significant in the holding of the club for play withthe upper end against the abdomen.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,574,915 3/26Marston 273-168 X 1,912,728 6/33 Roe 45-137 2,107,983 2/38 Hamilton273-812 2,772,090 11/56 Brandon 273-81 FOREIGN PATENTS 388,596 3/33Great Britain.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner. LEONARD w. VA RNER, JR., Examiner,

1. A LATERAL-SWING GOLF PUTTER CLUB, COMPRISING A PUTTER HEAD OFSIDE-HITTING TYPE; A SINGLE CLUB SHAFT EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROMSECUREMENT TO SAID HEAD; A HANDLE GRIP ON SAID SHAFT; AND AN ADDITIONAL,ELONGATE, SHAFT EXTENSION EXTENDING BEYOND THE UPPERMOST PORTION OF THEHANDLE GRIP SUFFICIENTLY TO PLACE THE UPPER END OF THE CLUB SHAFT